The Millat Town police arrested five men on Friday for protesting against the police for earlier beating some guests at a wedding where crackers were let off.
Three men, who had tried to stop the police from making the arrests, were injured in a scuffle with the policemen. They were taken to a hospital, from where they were later discharged.
Earlier, a police team, headed by Station House Officer Kashif Riaz, arrived at the wedding ceremony of Bilal Ahmad, a resident of Rahim Yar Khan, in Millat Town after somebody from the neighbourhood reported a ‘bomb blast’. The police discovered that the explosions were caused by fire crackers going off at the wedding.
Some men from the host family told the police to leave. At this, a witness said, the SHO slapped one of the guests, Naveed. This led to an argument between them that ended up in the police beating the men up.
Witnesses said that the police hit the men with sticks until some of them were bleeding from the nose and the mouth. They also tried to assault the bridegroom, but he escaped unhurt.
The host family and some wedding guests later gathered at Millat Chowk and protested against the police. They said they had only used crackers that did not make a very explosion. The protest went on for two hours before a police team arrived on the scene and arrested five men- identified as Akram, Naseem, Aslam, Tanveer and Rashid.
Some of the protesters who tried to stop the police were beaten. Three of them- Naveed, Mumtaz and Mubeen- were injured and taken to a hospital with injuries to the face.
SHO Riaz told The Express Tribune that in both incidents, men from the wedding had started the argument. Earlier, he said, at the wedding party some men had misbehaved with the police team and told them to leave. Then, he said, when the police visited the protest to calm the protesters, they misbehaved again.
He said no one was arrested until the men stood in front of the police van and abused the policemen.
He said they were warned to step off the road, but they ignored the warning. He said the men were then arrested for disrupting traffic and misbehaving with the police.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2013.